Businesses give millenials a wide berth in leadership

Nurturing young talent for future leadership is essential in succession planning. PHOTO | FOTOSEARCH 

By Debbie Hollis

In Summary

• Research shows Kenyan firms still not confident enough to attract and nurture young leaders.

A year on year analysis of the leadership development trends reported in the 2016 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends Survey, one of the largest of its kind, shows no progress is being made in mitigating the threat posed to organisational growth by the failure to develop an adequate supply of leaders to meet the needs of the business.

Leadership is ranked as the second most important talent management challenge for Kenyan organisations, with 92 per cent of Kenya based respondents emphasising the importance of leadership to their organisations.

Despite this fact, only 12 per cent felt their leadership pipeline was “very ready”. The glass is only half full because less than half of our organisations reported even having a process in place to identify people with high potential to become our leaders of tomorrow.

This is not just a Kenyan problem. Our research shows that around the world organisations struggle to strengthen their leadership pipelines, yet over the past year, businesses fell further behind, particularly in their ability to develop millennial leaders.

Kenyan organisations are still not confident in their ability to attract, develop and retain high potential millennial leaders, with only eight per cent of our respondents rating themselves as “excellent” at building millennial leaders.

This begs the question, if nearly every company recognises leadership as a critical talent problem, why are so few companies taking the necessary action to close their leadership gaps?

Our research shows the short answer is that many companies treat leadership sporadically, confining development to a select few employees, failing to make long-term investments in leadership, and neglecting to build a robust leadership pipeline at all levels.

Many organisations fail to invest in developing leadership both in the good and bad times, and others treat it as a luxury they can only afford in the strong years.

This, despite the clear and present risk that unless developing leadership is treated as an ongoing, strategic initiative by the business, leadership pipelines will continue to be weak and potentially impact the ability of the business to deliver on its strategy.

In today’s competitive business environment and rapidly evolving world of work, organisations must continuously develop a robust portfolio of leaders who are ready to engage employees, push forward growth strategies, drive innovation, and work directly with customers.

Companies that fail to invest continuously in the leaders of tomorrow may find themselves falling behind their competitors.

Populating your organisation with stronger leadership is one of the most effective exercises in competitive differentiation that you can carry out.

It is incumbent on leaders today to take ownership of developing the leadership of tomorrow as their legacy to ensure the continued growth and sustainability of their organisations.

Ms Hollis is a senior manager at Deloitte East Africa.